From baby carriage to loving marriage

By DEVIN HEILMAN

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Bea Degnan doesn't remember the very first time she met her husband, Bud.

She was just a baby.

"I was only 1 and he was 3," she said with a sweet smile. "Either one of us, we don't remember it at all."

It was about 90 years ago in the town of Waterbury, Conn. Bea and Bud had older sisters who were playmates, and when they played together they often brought along the little ones. Baby Bea would be comfy in her baby carriage, and little Buddy Degnan was happy to push it.

Little did he know that baby in the carriage would someday be his bride.

"I wanted to push the carriage. Once I touched those handlebars that was it. I was completely taken over,” Bud said, laughing. "I never let go of those handlebars."

Bea and Bud found each other again when they were older. They met at a dance when Bea was 17 and he was 19.

It was love at first jitterbug.

"She was quite excited about it," Bud said. "I was a reasonably good dancer, and she loved to dance."

"He really was, he was a very, very good dancer," Bea said.

The couple hit it off immediately. When Bea went home that night to share the excitement of her evening with her brothers and sisters, they couldn't believe who she'd met.

"In unison, they all said, 'Buddy Degnan?' and I thought, 'Oh good Lord, he's so nice, what did he do wrong?'" Bea shared. "Then they said, 'He used to push you when you were 1 year old in the carriage,' and that's how I found that out."

Bea and Bud have another neat connection — they share a March 5 birthday. On Sunday, Bea will be 92 and Bud will turn 94.

"It just seemed meant to be," Bud said.

The Degnans will celebrate their 74th wedding anniversary Sept. 16. Black-and-white photos of that day hang on the walls of their Post Falls Garden Plaza apartment, along with a special portrait of Bea that Bud drew 75 years ago.

Bud was in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, and all he had was a wallet photo of Bea to get him through a deployment without her before they married. He memorized that photo and duplicated it on paper, titling it "Bea My Mona Lisa."

"I drew this portrait of Bea in 1942 to show her beauty, which has not changed in the 74 years since I drew it," reads a note tucked into the corner of the frame. "We are as much in love today as the day we married: 9/16/1943. The loving touch of her hand, her smile that says all is well, makes every day a special day! I am so blessed to be able to call Bea my wife."

One of their secrets to long-lasting love is to weather life's storms dedicated to each other. Their hearts are still broken from losing their oldest son, Jackie, who died from a heart surgery infection in 1961 when he was only 16.

"That's a pill that still hasn't gone down," Bea said somberly. "That's pretty tough."

Although they lost their son too soon, his birth probably saved Bud's life.

"He was able to get a furlough to come home because Jackie was born with a bad heart," Bea said. "When he came home to see the baby, our son, the group he was in got sent overseas to Japan, which was pretty bad. Some of them never did make it."

Their daughter, Laura Whitehead, was seven years younger than Jackie, and 12 years later they had another son, Scott.

Whitehead said it was wonderful being raised by parents who are so in love. She said she couldn't even relate to kids with divorced parents because she could never imagine it.

"I felt love all the time," she said. "It was just fabulous. It really was. I never not felt love, and they never fought. They'll bicker, but they never had a fight. It's always been a very loving relationship. I feel extremely loved and blessed."

Bea and Bud have achieved royalty status at sweetheart's balls and regularly wear matching colors to dinner in Garden Plaza. Every evening, Bud tucks his bride into bed, rubs her feet and kisses her goodnight.

He said the key to a long and happy marriage is to really be in love.

"Love, commitment and believing in the vows you took," he said. "A lot of people forget what they said when they got married, but that’s important. You made a commitment and you had a reason for making that commitment."

He said it's also important for people to remember their wedding day, "and never forget it.

"If you’re the kind of person that believes in commitment and devotion, you have to be with the person you chose to be your wife or husband," he said. "You make those vows and you stay with them. There’s going to be rough times and there’s going to be very happy times, but the commitment is important and the devotion to that commitment is very important."

The way Bea and Bud look at each other — and still love to kiss each other — shows that even 90 years isn't long enough to be with the one you love.

"It just seems natural," Bud said. "It just seems like it was made that way from day one."